Spy and Saboteur

As I went to bed that night I kept thinking about Aiko. The way she’d looked at me. And the expression on Rio’s face, her eyes, just before Aiko had appeared. I wondered if Aiko had been watching us, and had stepped in just in time to stop… to stop what, exactly?

It was with this confusing mash-up of thoughts and emotions that I wrestled as I tried to get some sleep.

***

Several days later saw me running an inventory of the Mistral’s armory with Aiko. We were just getting started when an announcement came over the ship’s PA system.

“Ensigns Kinoshita, Akayama, and Keenan, please report to the conference room immediately.” Minori repeated the announcement as Aiko placed a .30-caliber recoilless rifle back in its rack with a sigh.

She switched her tablet off and tucked it under her arm. I couldn’t resist smirking at her. “Looks like all the officer trainees are in big trouble with the boss. Better take a mop and bucket with you, she’ll probably have you cleaning the galley floor for your crimes.”

“Hmph.” Aiko’s response was her usual monosyllabic rejection. “It is more likely that she has discovered additional flaws in your character and wishes to warn her juniors.” She gave me a dismissive sniff and a saucy flip of her ponytail as she left.

But I was relieved to see her smile at me just before she vanished. Ever since the incident with Rio, Aiko had kept her distance from me.

“It’s a good thing Doc’s out of town or he’d be hauled in right along with you,” I called after her. Benji had been sent to the Japanese Self Defense Force joint headquarters, where he would be temporarily reassigned to a military hospital. Before he left, he’d been moaning about having to take “remedial medical school” to cram 140 years of surgical advances into his head.

Aiko was gone for well over an hour. Another hour passed and I still hadn’t heard back from her. I was trying to figure out how to register the minigun Lev had brought onboard into the inventory system when Minori’s voice came over my headset.

“Lieutenant Peterson. I need you to change into your Class A JAXA uniform and report to the conference room as soon as you can.”

I set the minigun down on the planning table with a grunt. “What’s up? Is something wrong?”

“Just do it, Lieutenant,” she responded in a weary tone of voice.

Whatever the problem was, Minori wasn’t in the mood to chat about it. “Will do, Lieutenant Asakusa. I’ll be there in five minutes.”

***

When I entered the conference room, I saw Minori in her usual seat at the head of the table. Rio, Aiko, and Keenan were seated on the long side of the table facing the entrance. None of them, not even the normally upbeat Rio, looked the least bit happy.

What happened to our ensigns? I wondered. They look like they’ve just lost their best friend. Each of them had stared at me intently when I’d entered, but now it seemed like no one was able to look me in the eye.

Everyone present, including me, was wearing the dressier Class A JAXA uniforms, sewn seamlessly out of blue-and-gray fabric with teal-colored piping. That put me on notice that whatever was going to happen in the conference room would be official. JAXA usually wasn’t that strict about uniforms.

Minori held her hand out, indicating the lone chair on the other side of the table from the officer candidates. “Lieutenant Peterson, please have a seat.”

As soon as I sat down, Minori turned to Keenan. “Start the recording, please.”

When she said that, I knew that someone -- or several someones -- had committed a grave offense of some kind. I looked across the table at the three officer trainees and their downcast faces, and regretted my earlier comment to Aiko about being in trouble. Whatever they’d done, it had landed all three of them in hot water.

Minori sat erect, her hands resting one on top of the other. “For the record, I am Lieutenant Minori Asakusa, Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency, acting captain of the grav-carrier Mistral Challenger. I am conducting a preliminary investigation of possible criminal misconduct. As of this moment, anything recorded in this room will be entered into the official record for later use in a possible court-martial.”

She glanced at me. “Lieutenant Peterson, please state your full name and rank for the record.”

“I am First Lieutenant James L. Peterson, United States Army, acting executive officer of the grav-carrier Mistral Challenger.”

Minori had the ensigns go through the same ritual of giving their name and rank before addressing me again. When she looked at me, it was as if she wore the face of a stranger. An angry and upset stranger that was holding in her emotions.

“First Lieutenant James Peterson. You are under investigation for espionage against the nation of Japan. You are also under investigation for planning the sabotage and destruction of the Mistral Challenger and the deaths of her crew.”

***

I felt like the whole world had just turned upside down.

“What? I don’t understand --”

“Stop talking, Lieutenant!” Minori shouted. I saw Rio flinch at the unaccustomed display of anger, and both Aiko and Keenan looked surprised. An unnatural quiet descended on the conference room, now an interrogation chamber.

I sat in stunned silence as Minori continued. “Anything you say will be entered into the official record for use in a possible court-martial. You will be given an opportunity to speak later.”

I thought I understood. She was trying to keep me from blurting out something that might send me to a formal court-martial. And since it was a preliminary investigation, no legal counsel was present.

“Ensign Akayama?” The young electronic warfare officer jumped when Minori called her name. “Can you show us what you found in the Mistral’s signal scan logs, please?”

“Uh, yes ma’am.” Rio punched up a graph on the holo display. A chart showing radio transmissions over a time period of a week appeared over the middle of the table. “This graph shows a recording of transmissions made during the period when the Mistral Challenger was operating over the island of Kimura Jima.”

The graph was almost flat except for four spikes which Rio highlighted and circled. “This plot indicates transmissions in the AM band, in a frequency used by 20th-century military pilot emergency radios. Two of these transmissions originated from outside the ship. The point of origin is unknown.”

She took a breath and continued. “Each time one of these mystery transmissions was sent out, it was answered by a transmission from inside the Mistral.”

Rio pointed to the time and date stamps for each signal. “The first of these communications occurred shortly before the appearance of the first rip -- pardon me, the first anomaly -- and the subsequent boarding attempt by what was later confirmed to be a Cyclad raiding party. The second set of transmissions occurred just before the appearance of the second anomaly, and before the town of Kimura was overrun by what Lieutenant Peterson called ‘spider drones.’

“Each transmission from the Mistral was followed by a beacon locator signal at 243 megahertz, which lasted for ten minutes.”

“Could you determine the contents of the transmissions?” Minori asked.

Rio shook her head, her hair swishing around her like flustered eels. “No, the communications were in code. But the signal following the transmissions could only be a homing beacon.”

“Could you identify the voice of the person making the transmissions from inside the Mistral?”

“Yes.” I could see Rio wrestling with her emotions. Her mouth opened and closed several times and she seemed to be on the verge of tears. “It was Lieutenant Peterson’s voice.”

“Thank you. Ensign Kinoshita, can you show us the first item of interest?”

Aiko took over the holo display and replaced the graph with what looked like a photo of a small walkie-talkie. “Acting on the orders of Lieutenant Asakusa, I did a security sweep of the ship, looking for the transmitter. I…”

She seemed to lose her focus, then brought herself sharply to the present. “I located this 1980’s-era pilot emergency radio among Lieutenant Peterson’s belongings. Ensign Akayama confirmed that it was capable of transmitting on the intercepted frequencies, as well as emitting a homing beacon signal at 243 megahertz.”

Minori turned to me. “Lieutenant Peterson. Are you responsible for these transmissions originating from within the Mistral?”

I paused for a second, then gave a barely perceptible nod. “Yes.”

Gasps came from the opposite side of the table. Rio’s face went pale as she covered her mouth with both hands. Minori reached out and turned off the holovideo recording of the hearing.

“Jim, I’m going to pause the recording. Think carefully before you answer this next question.” Her lips tightened into a hard, narrow line.

“Why did you send those transmissions? What was their purpose?”

“I cannot answer those questions,” I replied.

“Why not?”

“I am not at liberty to say.” I balled my hands into fists, wrinkling the fabric of my pants legs.

“Who were you communicating with?”

“I am not at liberty to say.”

“How are these communications linked to the appearance of the rips? Or the spider drones, or the Cyclad raiders? Because it appears that someone contacted you from outside of the Mistral Challenger, then you gave them the ship’s exact position. Twice! In the first instance, the ship was directly attacked. In the second instance, the spider drones destroyed the town of Kimura while making their way to the Mistral.”

“I am not at liberty to say.”

Keenan had been listening in silence up until now. “But Lieutenant Peterson fought to save the ship both times!” he blurted out.

Minori answered without looking away from me. “Or so we were made to think.”

I was taken off-guard by her next question. “Do these transmissions have something to do with Project ROYAL?” At this, the ensigns all gave her curious looks. I guessed Minori had never discussed the subject with anyone else but me.

“I am not at liberty to say.”

Her eyes never left mine. “Keenan, please resume the recording.”

Once the recording started, Minori asked me the same questions and received the same answers. But she made no mention of Project ROYAL.

“Ensign Kinoshita, please display the photographs you located,” Minori said.

With obvious reluctance, Aiko punched several keys on her virtual keyboard. A series of photographs appeared on the display. They showed details of the MHD engines, turbines, and contra gravity generators in the Mistral’s engine room, as well as close-ups of structural features and controls throughout the ship.

“These images were taken from a roll of firimu -- film -- also found among Lieutenant Peterson’s belongings. Ensign Keenan was able to develop these photographs from the film negatives.”

Minori turned to Keenan. “Ensign Keenan? Can you comment on these pictures, please? And also explain what is written on those warning notices in the engine room.”

His usually expressive face was flat and devoid of emotion. “All of the engine room spaces are classified as Top Secret. The warning signs in the engine room state that taking pictures or video recordings is a criminal offense. All of the other photographs show sensitive structural areas of the Mistral Challenger.”

“Is there any significance to those pictures?”

“Yes. In naval engineering terms, these are critical blast points, areas where explosives would be fastened in order to… scuttle the ship.”

“Do you mean to say that it would cripple the ship?” Minori asked.

“No ma’am,” he replied. “It would not just cripple the Mistral Challenger, it would destroy her. And if she were under way at the time, catastrophically so. In either case it is likely that all aboard her would be killed.”

A few seconds dragged by in silence. The bright, sunny weather I could see through the window was in sharp contrast to the dark mood that had descended on the conference room.

Minori gave me a long look, as if weighing alternatives, before turning back to Keenan. “Ensign, in your estimation, did Lieutenant Peterson have enough explosives with him at the time he came on board the Mistral Challenger to plant on those 'critical blast points' and destroy the ship?”

“Yes, he did.”

“Thank you, Ensign. Lieutenant Peterson, can you explain these photographs?”

“I cannot.”

“Why did you take them?”

“I am not at liberty to say.”

She cut short what sounded like a frustrated sigh. “Very well. Do you have any comments to make to the investigating board in your defense?”

I shook my head. “No.”

“I see.” Minori rested her hands on the table in front of her and bowed her head in thought. The ensigns looked at their tablets, the walls, anywhere but at me.

Finally, Minori raised her head. “First Lieutenant James Peterson. Given your inability to provide credible answers to the questions posed by this committee, I hereby rule that this investigation has found compelling evidence that you have committed espionage against the nation of Japan, and planned the destruction of the Mistral Challenger and the deaths of her crew.”

A cold, hard weight settled deep in my stomach. I stared at the floor as Minori continued to speak. I was numb with shock, and her voice sounded distant and strained, as if I was at the bottom of a well and she was talking to me from the top.

“I am relieving you of your duties as acting executive officer of the Mistral Challenger. Due to the severity of these charges, I have no choice but to have you remanded into the custody of the JAXA security police until a court-martial board can be assembled.

“This investigation is concluded.” She signaled Keenan to stop the recording and rose from her chair. The rest of us did the same.

Minori turned to face me. The pain in her eyes looked the same as that in Aiko’s when she’d found me with Rio.

Her words seared me like a lash. “Lieutenant Peterson. We all trusted you. You’ve betrayed that trust and you’ve betrayed your shipmates.”

There was no good way to answer that. I remained at attention and stared into the distance.

“Ensign Kinoshita, please place Lieutenant Peterson under arrest and get him off this ship. JAXA police will arrive shortly and take him into custody.”

Minori stepped past me as if I no longer existed. But I know I saw tears in her eyes as she left.

Aiko came around to my side of the table. In addition to her katana, I noticed that she wore a military recoilless pistol in a holster, a requirement when escorting prisoners.

In front of the stunned gazes of Rio and Keenan, she handcuffed me, put a hand on my arm, and led me out of the room.

***

I tried to think of something light-hearted to say on the long walk to the cargo ramp, but nothing came to mind. Aiko had nothing to talk about either, so we trudged along in silence.

The ramp was already open when we arrived, letting in the sunshine and humidity. It was going to be another hot day.

Before I walked down the ramp, I stopped and turned around. “Just so you know, I would never do anything to harm any of you.”

Aiko stared at me. I thought she was going to say something, but she seemed to change her mind and flicked her gaze downward. When she looked back up, her face was carefully composed, emotionless. “The time for you to say that has passed, Lieutenant Peterson. I would like to believe it. But you did not even try to defend yourself earlier. Therefore, you gave us no choice but to believe only in what the evidence showed.”

She tugged on my arm. “Come.”

She escorted me down the ramp as one of JAXA’s small six-wheeled electric utility trucks rolled silently up. Two security officers wearing the Agency’s blue-and-gray uniform jumped out of the back and walked over to me. One of them presented a tablet to Aiko. She put her thumbprint on the screen, signing me over to JAXA as if I was a shipping crate, then walked back up without a backward glance.

As the guards marched me to the truck, the cargo bay ramp of the Mistral Challenger closed slowly behind me, clamping shut with a deep thunk and a note of finality. Another chapter in my life, the best I’d had so far, had come to an end.

And all I’d done was follow orders.

When I stepped into the back of the truck, I saw three guards sitting on one of the benches along the side.

I took my seat on the other bench between the two JAXA guards. My eyes adjusted to the dim light and I could see the others clearly.

They were wearing the green uniforms of Yamanaki Future Technologies, with security badges on their chest. It was the three security guards that Aiko and I had fought back at the pub.

I recognized the biggest guard as the one I’d taken out. The name on his badge identified him as “Motegi.”

Motegi gave me a cruel smile entirely lacking in humor. “Bet you wish your pet cougar was here with you now, don’t you?”