Chapter 7

“CAPTAIN, WANIGAN IS NOW ENROUTE TO Lagrange 3A, WITH AN ESTIMATED TIME OF ARRIVAL OF SIX HOURS. CAPTAIN YUSEF WISHES TO SPEAK WITH YOU.” Elizabeth announced.

Jeffrey left his workbench. He hadbeen designing new robots to assist in doing the rock mining, adding sensors and probes, and increasing its swarm capabilities. If he could make this to work, it would significantly improve the speed at which he could discover and work ore-bearing asteroids. “I'll take it in my cabin, Elizabeth. Thanks.” In the time it took Jeffrey to walk from the workshop to his cabin, Wanigan had traveled 25,000 kilometers. This was pretty fast – half a million kilometers per hour – but Jeffrey had a feeling that Wanigan was not quite stretching her legs all the way.

At his cabin, he sat down at the comm desk, and activated the circuit. It was only then that he realized it was live, not a recording. So he also assured that the encryption was enabled. “Hello, Wanigan,What's up?”

“Captain Sokolov, we are inbound to Lagrange 3A. I need to brief you privately – off-ship. Please arrange for a suitable location,” said Captain Yusef.

“Captain Yusef, it's good to see you. You might be pleasantly surprised to know I already arranged for a safehouse set of suites here. There are some hinky things going on here, so I had Elizabeth arrange surreptitiously a whole set of suites on the silver-level.” He forwarded the location to Captain Yusef. “My team, my crew, has been enthusiastic about their undercover roles, so we have been relatively quiet, on our part.” Jeffrey recounted the activities since they last spoke.

Yusef asked Jeffrey to expand on his observation that things were 'hinky'. “Well when I was first kidnapped, it was, I thought, in retaliation for damaging the security officer's trigger finger – Elizabeth damaged it by removing it with a laser.”

Yusef chuckled at Jeffrey's humorous narrative. Jeffrey continued, “after my team rescued me from the first successful kidnapping, there have been other attempts. The administrator took me out to a fancy restaurant by way of apology, and someone put a tail on me after that. We lost it on the way to the safe house. I installed an Elizabeth clone at the safe house so we can sneak around in their electronics as necessary, but only for short periods. Their anti-intrusion software is pretty slick.

“The administrator is attempting to squeeze all the precious metals out of all the miners, I suspect to corner the market for his own profit, or, he serves an organization that is doing so. My broker also tried to acquire all our precious metals as well, offering three times the actual value listed on the market sheets. I might have jumped at it had you not requested we hold ours.”

Yusef waited for Jeffrey to finish his narrative, then said, “Captain Sokolov, we are going to come in hot like last time. What is the likelihood that you can get off-station to observe the cloud of ships surrounding the station?”

“Hm,” started Jeffrey. “We are docked on the inner wharf, unlike last time. It would be somewhat suspicious and apparently bogus if I request to leave if I hadn't sold my precious metals before leaving.” Jeffrey thought about it for a second. “But I have an idea. Let me set something up. What time range can we expect to see you here?”

“At exactly 18:14 Zulu.”

“I'll let you know if I am not able to accomplish this, and start working on another method.”

“Very good. Yusef out.”

“Sokolov out.”

He asked Elizabeth to see if she could implement his idea.

“CAPTAIN, THIS IS EMMINENTLY DO-ABLE. AS LONG AS WE KEEP THE INTRUSION TO A FEW SECONDS.”

“Okay, make it so.”

As before, Wanigan came into the neighborhood of Lagrange 3A in full military burn, slowing down from the half-million kilometers per hour to a near-abrupt full stop, relative to the station. This took a surprisingly short time. When Wanigan started her breaking burn, a broadcast on all frequencies up and down the spectrum announced, “Attention! This is the war ship Wanigan. We are coming in hot. Do not make any sudden or threatening moves.”The announcement was accompanied by a siren sound that was reminiscent of an old Earth fog horn, designed to get your attention. A blast of tubas, trombones and trumpets.

A minute before the arrival of Wanigan Elizabeth released a series of viruses to a select group of ships around the station, and within the station itself. Each of the ships that were affected had the same controlling computers on board, the same controllers the station used to monitor visual and communication events around and outside the station. After Wanigan appeared all hundred or so cameras and radio receivers recorded events from multiple angles, then stored them, condensed the data and broadcast it on a microburst that both Wanigan and Elizabeth picked up. The viruses then deleted the evidence they had been on board, including themselves.

Shortly after the arrival of Wanigan, the security officer Olson, an Information Tech manager and the administrator met in the administrator's office. The InfoTech manager showed the other two the report his equipment had compiled from activities just prior to the arrival of Wanigan and for a minute afterward. The report couldn't show what the activity was, but the close correlation with the appearance of the war ship pointed to the Navy's involvement.

The administrator pursed his lips, tossed the plastic sheets aside and said, “I don't understand this. What does the report say?” He was after all, the administrator. If he had to know all the detail work what was the purpose of having staff? Security Chief Olson just sat there taking it all in.

The InfoTech Manager picked up the plastic sheet, touched a spot on the sheet, and it showed an animation of the data activities going through his routers, and the couple dozen computers that monitored video and electronics communications. At the beginning, it showed low levels of activities on all computers, but at the point about thirty seconds before Wanigan showed up all the computers suspended their activities and dedicated all their efforts to monitoring something. “Then they resumed their activities, and each computer shows absolutely nothing occurred. I ran a quick scan, and there is no evidence that anything infected or otherwise modified the computers. Somebody is messing with my systems, and I don't like it.”

Security Chief Olson asked to look at the plastic sheet. He activated the animation again, paused it at various places, drilled down to see more specific timing information, and pointed out to the InfoTech Manager the direction which the infections seemed to start from. It seemed to suggest that the activity began on the station, from somewhere in the Silver-level.

The administrator's eyebrows shot up, as he paid closer attention. “Where?” he inquired.

“It seems centered on the switches for the sixteenth through twentieth levels. That's about three hundred suites.” The InfoTech Manager took the plastic sheet and further manipulated the search criteria, but couldn't pinpoint with any more accuracy than Olson could. He grudgingly admitted defeat.

The administrator said, “You two get together and work on this. I want to know who is using station resources.” Thus dismissed, the two left the office suite.

“Nice catch,” the InfoTech Manager said to Olson.

“I had a bit of InfoSec training a bit ago. Sometimes it is a harbinger ofother nasty things.”

“I hear you,” said the InfoTech Manager. “Shall we get together at Noon to ferret out these anomalies?”

“If I can get away from the Navy security people. You know how they can be. I'll let you know.”Lars Olson then took his leave and walked back to his own office.

What an interesting can of worms he was delivered into, thought Olson. Odd things were occurring on the station – from the Navy request to halt all transactions in precious metals until they arrived, to the attacks on the captain of the Elizabeth, to the unusual behavior of the administrator, to the odd surveillance system that appeared when Wanigan showed up. Much to ponder.

Elizabeth's Clone, as yet unnamed, had set up a practice of monitoring the office of the administrator. Overhearing the discussion of the administrator, the InfoTech Manager and the Security Chief, she immediately realized that an error or miscalculation had been made on Elizabeth's part. She notified Elizabeth immediately. Her reply was “OOPS.”

Elizabeth had one of the security remote robots dismantle another one, fry its circuits, then take the smoking remains to conceal on the top of the elevator, leaving enough power in its battery pack to ensure that anyone who was looking for unusual electronic signatures would find this one. Preferably somewhere far from the safehouse locations.

All this appeared just in time, as Olson walked the corridor on the safehouse level. He had taken a different elevator, but luck would have it, he walked by the elevator location at just the time the elevator was passing his floor. His electronic anomaly detector let off a 'Yip' as the elevator passed. He stopped, pressed the button, and waited for the elevator to return. After a few minutes, it did. He got on, and the anomaly detector fairly screamed. He reduced the gain on the volume control, then stopped and locked the elevator in place.

He ran the anomaly detector all around the interior of the elevator cabin, but it seemed to have the strongest signal toward the ceiling. He popped open the escape hatch and found a small piece of electronic equipment that was smoldering but still emitting a power signal, an errant capacitor charging up from the dying battery, then emitting an electronic blast that his anomaly detector had discovered.

He bagged the item, went back down through the hatch, released the elevator, then went on his way again, using the anomaly detector to complete his investigation. He didn't find anything else on the floor, so took another elevator down to the next level, and continued his sweep, uneventfully.

Were they human, the two AIs would have held their breaths and let out a sigh of relief when Olson moved out of the area. Only after the incident did Elizabeth notify Jeffrey. But she explained that the security people were now monitoring normal communications with a better decrypting system and a direction finding algorithm that attempting to defeat would raise more questions and further jeopardize their operation. Jeffrey accepted the explanation, but ticked another mark in his mind.

Wanigan made a parking position fifty kilometers from the station, and sent landing parties in shuttles. Security Chief Olson met the first shuttle, and found Captain Yusef, accompanied by thirty Marines. There were two dozen other shuttles about to land as well. Yusef told Olson that he was going to need a place to meet with the rock miners who had precious metals, as well as anyone who had already conned them out of the precious metals.

Olson said he had a few spaces in his security office, but Yusef said he thought he wanted to have a private suite in the silver-level, if that could be arranged. To appear as if he was selecting at random, he opened his portable computer, produced a 3-D map of the station, and selected three locations. The map showed those locations as vacant, so Olson said it would be OK, and communicated the request to the accommodations department.

Yusef then explained that some of his Navy and marine personnel would be spending their leave time on the station, and that others would be there in official capacities. Olson said that there were plenty of vacant hotel rooms and suites for them to spend their credits on.

Then Olson said, “Captain Yusef, we ran across an anomaly when you showed up in our region.” He then went on to explain what he had found, and what he thought it was doing.

Yusef said, “Mr. Olson, you are to be commended on your clever analytic abilities. I'm sorry you aren't working for me – I could use more people of your caliber.” He paused, pulled Olson out of the hearing of anyone else, and said, soto voce, “I would not look too closely into this. You have to be aware that I have my own intelligence agents pretty much everywhere.”

Olson, not being the dim bulb his predecessor was, understood immediately that he was being warned away by the Navy. There were implications there that he would ponder later, but he now knew that whoever created the surveillance at the time of Wanigan's arrival was related to the Navy. “What,” he asked, “should I tell the InfoTech Manager?”

Yusef said, “I wouldn't tell him anything, but if you must talk, is there anything that could jeopardize any Navy or Earth Security programs, that you know of?”

“No, I don't think so.”

“Do you want the InfoTech Manager to spend time spinning his wheels?” Yusef looked at him over his glasses.

“That's something I had not thought about. I'll let you know what I came up with, Captain.”

“Thanks, Olson. I would like to talk to you sometime before I leave the station. Are the suites equipped with wired lines?”

“Yes sir – fiber anyway. I don't think anyone is using copper anymore.”

“Then call me at this suite,” he said, indicating the one next to Elizabeth's Australia. I'll set up my personal rooms there. The other suites will be set up as offices.”

The Captain had a Yeoman in tow, and he had her make furnishing arrangements for all the suites. He then said he was going to that suite now, and when CommTech Yuki Oharaarrived on station, she should report to him there immediately.

When Captain Yusef arrived at his suite next to Australia, Torres met him in the corridor, and invited him into his own suite, as an apparent neighborly gesture. The Australia Suite already looked homey, but Torres took the Captain to one of the closets, where a ladder was revealed behind a false wall. They both ascended the ladder, and appeared in a similar closet in the Canada Suite.

Jeffrey welcomed Captain Yusef, assembled his crew, who all greeted their former boss. Zitulu got coffee service going, and brought mugs for everyone, who were now sitting around a large coffee table in the living room.

“Commander Sokolov, you have been doing quite an impressive job as a spook,” said the uniformed Captain Yusef. “Your team also seems to have gotten into the swing of it as well.”

“Thanks, Captain. So what's this precious metals secret?”

“Straight and to the point. Good for you,” said Yusef. “There is a new theory of physics that involves bending space-time so ships can move at speeds nearing the speed of light. Engines that produce that much power use unstable forms of gold and a few other elements. I am told by our physicists that eventually they think they will make these engines pursue superluminal speeds.”

“Wait,” said Janet. “How are they supposed to do that? Isn't that impossible?”

“Something about the special density of parts of the modified gold creating a warp in space-time, enabling you to 'ride the wave' as it were. Wanigan is on a shake-down cruise with her new engines. If everything is as good as it seems, then we are a quantum leap beyond any previous propulsion systems. And Captain, I want you to have one aboard Elizabeth.”

“What kind of problems have you run across so far?” asked Jeffrey.

“Mostly resonance frequencies and interfering with electronics. There are relatively simple engineering fixes for these issues. But we haven't pushed her above .1 light”

Jeffrey did the math in his head – light was about 279,000 kilometers per second, .1 or a hundredth the speed of light was still 27,900 kilometers per second. Very fast, in Jeffrey's book. “What kind of effect has this speed had on the crew and equipment?”

“No appreciable change in crew behavior or symptoms, the biggest issue we seem to have come across is at these speeds, we are facing a greater incidence of fluid dynamic flow. We have had to reinforce our nose with a more aerodynamic and heat-resistant cone.”

“What about micrometeorite collisions?”

“At least at the speeds we have been running at, a pressure wave of solar and other cosmic particles, precedes the ship, acting much like a shield. It's comparable to a sea ship's bow wave.”

“Does that bow wave continue – can it be made into a weapon, for instance?” asked Jeffrey, thoughtfully. “Or does it do damage to structures like the station?”

“So far, there haven't been any incidents, but those are good questions, I'll put them to our physicists – maybe see if they come up with any way we can test it non-destructively.”

“JEFFREY,” intoned Elizabeth. “MY CLONE REPORTS THAT SOMEONE IS ENTERING THE APARTMENT NEXT TO AUSTRALIA.”

CaptainYusef asked, “Is it someone we know? I am expecting a few people.”

“YES, CAPTAIN YUSEF. IT IS TWO PEOPLE – COMMTECH OHARA ANDNAVY YEOMAN LIN CHANG.”

“Thank, you Elizabeth.” He reached for his radio and contacted the Yeoman, told her to enter the suite, but that Ohara was to come upstairs for a 'party'. The Yeoman could join the 'party' when she finished her duties.

Ohara arrived on the correct floor, when she spotted Zitulu, who ushered her to the Canada Suite.

Jeffrey continued to grill his commanding officer about the engines – what kind of modifications would he have to make to the ship to accommodate the new engine design, how much gold was required, what other minerals, what other systemic demands were there to use the new design?

“The really good news is, you don't need too much, about a half metric tonne of gold, and it didn't consume the gold.” The gold was a catalyst that fostered the development of the wave form, but was not consumed by the reaction. And of course, this went contrary to Jeffrey's understanding of gold as an inert metal – it didn't react with anything, he thought. Learn something new every day.

“So why all the other precious metals, the silver, copper, uranium, platinum?”

Yusef grinned. “Ah, that's where the subterfuge comes in. If they know we are looking for gold, and they see we can go real fast, that tells them something. But if we give them a whole spectrum of metals to worry about, there aren't enough clues to discern how our engines work. We would like to keep them somewhat secret.”

“That explains something,” said Janet.

“Oh?” inquired Yusef and Jeffrey simultaneously. They looked at each other, then back to Janet.

“I saw a trace of copper in your heat trail.”

Jeffrey asked “And what does that imply to you?”

“Simple, Captain -er Commander. The copper ions are a false trail. It will make their physicists tear their hair out trying to replicate the engines.”

“Okay,” concluded Jeffrey. “How am I going to get one on Elizabeth? What do I need to do?”

Ohara stood up, “If I may, Captains?”

They both looked at the petite young woman. Jeffrey had last seen her as a CommTech on Wanigan during the mutiny crisis, and only via electronic communications. Captain Yusef said “Go ahead, Ohara.”

“Sirs, I studied physics – I have a doctorate in physics from Princeton and one in Engineering from Tokyo. I studied your replicator – you and your AI have done some wonderful things with it. We have replicated it on Wanigan much to our AI's delight. Anyway, we can replicate the engine with what you have on board, and I have the knowledge and expertise and skill to direct you and the AI to make the engine!”

“So what you're saying is, you think you can figure out how, what whole teams of scientists figured out, all by yourself?” asked Jeffrey, incredulously.

“Yes, sir.” the petite young woman said, almost demurely.“I also have a PhD in math from Edinborough, Scotland.”

“Yeah, but can you fight?”

Audrey said, “Captain, she and I used to practice Ninjutsu together. She's pretty good.”

“Oh well, welcome aboard. One question, though,” said Jeffrey.

“Yes, sir?”

“A CommTech?”

“Yes, sir. This is the twenty-second century. Opportunities for women are getting better, and it is much improved over previous decades and centuries, but if you want to go to space, you need a swinging dick. This was my chance to get into space without one.”

Captain Yusef produced Ohara's documentation, including her transfer orders. Jeffrey said, “Captain Yusef, I need a promotion for this woman to Second Lieutenant, with all rights and responsibilities associated with such promotion.”

“Can't do that, Captain.”

“Oh, why not?” Jeffrey began sounding affronted.

“If you check those orders, you'll see I already promoted her to First Lieutenant. Ha! Beat you to it!”

Zitulu looked almost crestfallen.

“What's with you?” asked Captain Yusef.

“It's...nothing sir.”

“No, spit it out. What's the problem?”

“Mr. Mbaka,” said Jeffrey,“I think I understand your problem. If I may?”

Zitulu looked at Jeffrey, and thought he saw some recognition of the situation in his eyes. “Okay,” he mumbled.

“Captain,” said Jeffrey. “The Navy has regulations against the fraternizing of enlisted with officers.” He indicated Zitulu, “Mr. Mbaka, here has feelings for young Miss Ohara. Am I right, Zitulu?”

“Yes, Cap..Commander.”

Ohara just looked on in wide eyed disbelief. She couldn't contain herself any longer. “But you never said anything! How's a girl to know?”

Jeffrey cut in before any more post-teenage angst arose. “Captain, would it interest you to know that I suspended those rules on board my ship? For the mental and physical health of my crew, I have instituted a rule that encourages people to...comingle freely, as long as it doesn't interfere with their work or the good order and discipline of the ship.”

Captain Yusef looked over his glasses at Jeffrey. He was getting pretty good at non-vocal communications with his eyes. “Let me get this straight,Commander. You are telling me that you allow these people to, uh, to behave in a different way than Naval tradition has dictated for centuries? By what authority? Why would you do such a thing?”

“Well, sir, for the good of my ship and her crew. I'd rather not have them sneaking around my back, just get it out in the open. And by what authority? The captain of a ship is God on that ship. God said I could do it.”

“Well, Mr. Sokolov.” Captain Yusef laughed. “Your authority is higher than mine, it seems. Carry on.”

Zitulu Mbaka had difficulty figuring out what transpired, he kept looking from officer to officer to officer, not having any idea of any change in status. “I'll explain it to you in a little bit, kid.” said Jeffrey.

Torres took Yusef on a tour of the Canada suite, including the hidden gun caches, the electronic storage closet where Elizabeth's unnamed clone resided, and the secret passageways between suites. “Very impressive, Ojo. You have done yourselves proud.” Captain Yusef patted the big marine on his shoulder.

“Thank you Sir.”

“What do you think of your Captain's...commingling policy?” he asked Torres.

“Um...I think the Commander has, um, uh, the right idea, the right path. I think he, I think. Sir, I don't know what I think, but I like it.”

“Ah. Lieutenant Bianca, I assume.”

“Yes, sir.,” replied Torres, turning redder than he had just moments ago. He kept swallowing saliva.

“Relax. If things work out for you, then there you go. If they don't, then there you go. Understand?”

“Pretty much as described by Captain Sokolov, sir.”

“Well, then Sargent,” concluded the captain, “there you go.”

“Yes, sir.”

Captain Yusef made his way back to his own suite, and was pleasantly surprised to see it well furnished, his Yeoman finishing up some paperwork. A couple burly Marines were posted outside his door. The Yeoman seemed disappointed about the party that she was missing, but with her captain back, duty called.

“Sir, you have eight appointments with ship owners and brokers. There will be more as soon as I can arrange them,” she told Yusef.

“Lin,” he asked the young Yeoman, “Do you ever feel...discriminated against?”

“In the Navy, sir?” she asked.

“In general, Miss Chang.”

“Sir, I feel I have been given a good deal of freedom to act in my capacity and to my abilities, at least under you, sir. The Navy, that's a different thing.”

“Tell me about it.”

“No sir.”

Taken aback, the captain wondered what was in her history that didn't show in her excellent records. “Fair enough. If you ever feel that things are against you on my ship, please let me know.”

“Yes sir.”

“Okay, when is my first appointment?”

“Twenty hundred, sir. With a broker named Jonathon Jackson.”

“Very good.”

When twenty hundred hours arrived, a chime announced someone at the door. A marine looked in and announced Jonathon Jackson.

The Captain showed the smallish man to a seat across the desk, and began, “I assume you have acquired a good deal of precious metals from the miners.”

“Well,” the broker temporized, “A bit. They seem a bit reluctant to sell to me.”

“That's probably because the orders went out not to sell precious metals until Wanigan showed up.”

“Oh. Uh, yeah,” said the broker. “Well I did get some.”

“Okay,” said Captain Yusef, “Show me what you have.”

The broker handed over a plastic sheet with multiple lists. The captain looked over it, and said, “I'll take all your copper, but only half of your titanium, I can use some of the silver. That's all.” He handed the plastic back to the broker.

“But, but, but, what about all this gold?” The broker said, almost pleadingly.

“What about it?”

“Don't you need gold? And silver? There's uranium and platinum. What about those?”

“Gold? Silver? What do I need those for? Hm...” he paused, as if thinking, then said, “Okay, you don't have much of those – platinum, silver. You seem to have a lot of gold. But I see your asking price is really exorbitant. Cut it in third, and I'll take it off your hands. The same with the platinum and titanium.

“But if you had copper, I would take all you had.”

The broker agreed to the deal, accepted the Navy credit chit, and transferred ownership to the minerals.

Other like-minded brokers came and went, wondering about their sources of information. Wondering how they were outmaneuvered by a boring Navy captain. And what was this about copper? Still, the captain got all the gold he wanted, got tremendous amounts of copper, and other minerals that may prove useful for a Space Navy to have.

The following morning, Jonathon Jackson was trying to sell the rest of his gold, but the commodities market was now a bit depressed; gold was selling for less than half it was the previous day, and it continued to fall. Jeffrey Sokolov called Jonathon and inquired about his business.

“If low prices were farts, this place would stink. Come to think of it, this place stinks!”

“I just wanted to unload my gold today, what can you give me for it?” Jeffrey asked. The broker named a price that was a quarter what he wanted before speaking to the Navy captain.

Jeffrey said, “Well, what the heck?” The broker had a forlorn look on his face, which was quite unusual; most of the time the broker was a glad-hander, a perpetually positive person. Jeffrey said, “You know, you've been helpful for me in the past. How about I do this. Why don't I buy what you have – how much do you have?” The broker told him, and now for once that morning something positive might actually come of this. “Okay, with my other mineral sales I should be able to buy all the gold off of you, and sell it somewhere else.”

The broker didn't want to tell Jeffrey that he had already checked with his contacts on other Lagrange 3 stations, that is, the stations in the same orbit around the sun. All the brokers had the same sad tale, gold was nearly worthless any more, but copper was very high in demand. But this was a matter of life and, well, not death, so much, as poverty.

So Jeffrey bought all the broker's gold, and contracts for all the other ships that the broker worked with. Soon the hold on Elizabeth was well weighed down with the shiny yellow metal. Jeffrey still had copper, so he called the broker later in the day, and said he was going to the Navy to sell the copper, but thought he would check on a fair price. The broker nearly fell down fawning over Jeffrey in his attempt to get the copper before it went to the Navy.

Jeffrey sold the entire complement of minerals to the broker, including two tonnes of copper. He got a tidy sum out of it, which he used to buy other broker's gold similarly to his maneuvering with Jonathon.

By the time all the precious metals were bought, between Jeffrey and Yusef, hundreds of millions in credits were transferred. Jeffrey stationed his crew as guards inside Elizabeth, the Marines sent some very tough troops in civilian garb as faux private security to stand on the dock and look menacing, which they did with abandon and gusto.

The most delicious deal came from the administrator, who had tried to scoop up as much of the minerals as he could, but of course, concentrating on the more traditionally pricy minerals. But the administrator was taken aback when he learned that the Navy had no interest in gold. Instead they were looking for copper! Jeffrey had come into possession of copper and offered it to the administrator, otherwise he would have to sell it to the Navy. Of course he wouldn't mention that the copper he had come into possession of came from the Navy.

All in all, Jeffrey came up with a tidy profit, the Navy got its gold, the Navy also got its copper, and quite a bit of other minerals.

The Navy also had begun inquiries into the administration of the station. There were persistent reports of station resources being diverted for private purposes, of station security being used as a private army, of station management taking bribes and kickbacks, and a good deal of suspicion that the station was the haven for several illegal gangs and organizations.

While Wanigan was in port, the Marines had a field day raiding gambling dens, drug dens, prostitution dens, and other warrens of iniquity. They had also arrested members of the station security forces that had been involved in Jeffrey Sokolov's kidnapping and other atrocities.Andrade, just released from the hospital, Sargent Jason Calloway also of the Security Office, Louis Andrade, and others.

It was decided to leave a marine detachment on the station, under the command of Lieutenant Omotunde. The Lieutenant was given an office in the security department, and the Marines troops were scattered throughout the station in recruitment and other federal offices. Lars Olson, the Security Chief took the intrusion with as much salt as he could stomach.

He continued to drop hints to the InfoTech Manager about what might have caused the minute-long surveillance of the Navy ship coming onto the station, not, however pointing out that actually it was the other ships in the area the surveillance was for, not the Navy ship.

The InfoTech Manager reported to the adminstrator, who asked that Security Chief Olson report to his office. When Olson arrived, the administrator asked about the device that he had found. Olson said it was in evidence, but that his techs had looked it over. There was no sign of ownership. It could have been pirates, he mused.

“No, not that,” said the administrator, but he caught himself, “I don't think. See what else you can learn.” And with that, they were dismissed.