Fourth Vector Ch. 28

"About the only way we could do that is at sea," said Kat. "Just moving around Daban isn't going to help. We need larger distances to truly feel a difference in the bond, so we'd have to take the ships out to see if that would help."

Abigail perked up. "I'd volunteer for that. I can take theDestiny and the rest of the task force out if that would help figure out for sure where Jack is being taken."

Kat looked over and smiled. "And I can go with her too. You'll need one of us there to feel the bond. I'll gladly go with you."

Aedan didn't look nearly as excited. "Is that a wise choice right now? We know the Swabian fleet is still out there somewhere. Our own naval forces are not in the best shape so you wouldn't have much in the way of protection."

"We've already bloodied the Swabians once on our way here," said Abigail with a hint of pride. "We can do it again. All of our encounters with them have gone our way."

"True, but the main Swabian force is out there somewhere," cautioned Aedan. "You've managed to stumble into small forces and you've been able to defeat them, but their numbers nearly crushed our combined forces alongside the Carinthians."

"Then we'll just operate around Picard territorial waters," said Abigail before she turned to look at Kat. "If we circle around Picardy, do you think that distance will be enough to figure out where they're taking Jack?"

Kat thought about it for a moment before she nodded. "That should work. As we circle the island, the bond should get stronger once we get closer to the direction he was taken. It will then weaken once we start to pull away again. It's not much but it's a start for figuring out where to concentrate our search efforts."

"And if you run into the Swabians out there?" asked Aedan. "What then?"

Abigail shrugged. "It's the chance we have to take. TheDestiny is a fast ship so she can outrun just about anything that has the firepower to sink her. She can usually outgun anything that's fast enough to catch her. I'm confident we can get through any fight just fine."

"What if you stumble into a fight with the ship that Jack is on?" asked Will. "Any Swabian ship that you come upon might be fair game, but what if Jack is being carried on one of them? You might sink him and not know any better."

"If Jack is truly on one of those ships, then the bond should be fairly strong if we close to that kind of distance," said Kat. "If I'm on the ship and the bond gets strong, then we'll know not to fire upon it because it's likely Jack is there."

"This whole thing seems like an awfully risky venture," said Aedan. "I'm also not enthusiastic about losing the naval coverage over Daban. If another Swabian fleet gets into the bay, we'll be surrounded on all sides."

"The option isn't without risks," admitted Abigail. "But it's the best we have. The only other solution is letting the Swabians get away with the Galician king." She turned and looked at the other Galicians in the room. "We can't let that happen."

Will nodded his head. "I have to agree with that assessment. There are no Galicians in Swabia for that very reason. Any Galician that steps foot on Swabian soil is condemned to death by their laws. If that's where they're taking Jack, then his chances don't look too good."

Aedan pivoted to look at Greg. "What do you say about all of this? Your men are fighting on the ground in Daban but Jack is still your leader. You have a foot in both camps so what's your opinion?"

Greg looked at Abigail and Kat and then nodded his head. "If that's the best way for us to find Jack, we should do it. The loss in coverage in Daban should only be temporary. It shouldn't take theDestiny long to sail around the island, right?"

"Only a few days if I have the distances correct," said Abigail.

Greg looked back at Aedan. "Then they have my support."

Aedan knew he'd lost at that point. "I suppose I can't exactly stop you now, can I? Will you at least go quickly and make it a fast search? It makes me nauseous to think about Daban without cover for so long."

"I can plan to leave by tomorrow," said Abigail. "And we should be back before the end of the week."

"All right then," said a still less than enthusiastic Aedan. "In the meantime, I will start reaching out to others to aid in our search. Reina is aware that Jack's missing but I'll send another message to her today. I'm also going to send one to Sorella and Andalucia because of Jack's ties there, but also to Apulia. I don't expect much from the Apulians but since that's the other major direction that Jack could be, it can't hurt."

"That should cover every major country around us except for Swabia," said Kat. "If our intuition is wrong about Swabia, then hopefully we can get another lead."

"I'll see that it's done," said Aedan before switching topics. "With Jack being gone though, we should discuss another matter. The upcoming battle with the Swabians is still pending. We've postponed the attack once Jack went missing but we need to decide what we're going to do."

"What's the current status of the army?" asked Kat. "Are they ready to fight?"

"They are and I'm sure they are getting antsy at this point," said Aedan. "That's not mentioning too that every second we delay is another one that the Swabians get to shore up their defenses. The army is ready but I've delayed them with the loss of Jack. Seeing as we don't need Jack to technically kick the battle off, I'm ready to push forward anyway."

"The marines are ready to do their duty," promised Greg. "The weather seems to be holding and they're ready to push the Swabians out of Daban."

Aedan nodded. "Neil assures me the same thing with our army too. I've heard from General Barca and his men are ready too. I think we should go ahead with the operation. I'm getting a lot of push from our engineering corps as well to test out their new toys."

"What new toys?" asked Vera.

"The prototype tanks that we've developed from the captured Swabian ones," answered Aedan. "We were able to recover a small handful after the last fight. They were brought back to our engineering corps and they took them apart in an exercise of reverse engineering. Once they were able to figure out how they worked, they managed to design their own. We have fourteen prototypes that are ready to go, and they are anxious to see how they'll fare in battle."

Will raised an eyebrow. "Fourteen you said? That should be promising."

"We're hoping to array them together in one concentrated attack," said Greg, taking over for the king. "We're not sure yet if the Swabians will be able to counter tanks coming back at them just yet but we figured a concentration of our tank forces will give us the best chance at piercing their lines."

"If we pierce their lines, we can exploit the gap and pour more through it," added Aedan. "We can also begin to roll up their flanks as well."

"How would these tanks fare against other tanks?" asked Abigail. "Can they destroy each other? Or would there be no damage because of all that armor?"

Aedan and Greg shared a look with each other. "You've brought up something we've noticed as well. Actually, it was another engineer who pointed it out initially but the worry soon spread to the others. Since these tanks are only operating machine guns, and we know their armor is too thick for those small caliber bullets to get through, we estimate that any battle with a tank versus another tank will quickly come to a stalemate."

"Makes sense," said Kat. "If they can't damage each other, then what are they to do?"

"That very same engineer came up with another idea," continued Aedan. "What if instead of a machine gun, we mount a large caliber weapon to the tank that's capable of blasting through their armor? A main gun if you will that can not only take out infantry but other tanks as well?"

"All of this comes at a trade-off," said Greg. "If we up the caliber on the main gun, it means they'll be able to carry less ammunition. It also means reload time will become a factor. So it'll be less effective against infantry but more deadly against other armored vehicles."

"Precisely, Greg," said Aedan. "It's something we're experimenting with now. If anything, we might even come up with those two models—one that retains the machine guns for a focus against infantry while the second is for focus against other armor. It does complicate things a little but at least we're able to counter anything we find on the field."

"If that's the case, then you should move forward with the attack," said Kat. "Like you said, every day that you delay is another that the Swabians get stronger."

Aedan nodded his head in agreement. "Then we will move forward this week. Is there anything else remaining that we still need to discuss?"

The table was silent at his question. Abigail noticed that Lindsay turned to Will to mouth something in his ear, but she couldn't make out what she was saying. When Lindsay was finished, she said nothing further to the group.

"Excellent, well we all have things we need to get started on then," said Aedan as the meeting came to a close.

The king was amongst the first to get up, followed quickly by Greg and Vera as they made their way to their own quarters. Abigail was about to leave when she noticed that Will and Lindsay had come over to Kat.

"Katherine, if you don't mind, we'd like to have a word," started Will. He cast nervous eyes toward Abigail before he turned his attention back to Kat. "Alone if we could."

Kat gave him a firm response. "Abigail is like a sister to me so you can get started with what you have to say. Remember she belongs to Jack just as much as I do."

Will regarded that statement for a moment before he finally nodded. "We'd like to talk to you about this upcoming mission. The one that you volunteered for to sail around Picardy in an attempt to figure out where they are taking Jack."

"What of it, Will?" she asked.

Will looked at Lindsay who then began to speak. "It's just, we'd feel better about this whole thing if you didn't go."

Kat raised an eyebrow. "Excuse me? Why is that?"

"Let us explain," started Lindsay before taking a long look at Kat's stomach. Kat was now four months pregnant and the small bulge in her stomach was starting to get bigger. While not apparent to those that didn't know her, it was large enough to catch the attention of those around her who already knew the news.

"If the king really is in trouble, then we don't think it's wise for you to leave the city," said Lindsay. "For all we know, Jack could be in serious danger with the Swabians. If something happens to him, the line of the Galician king is in serious trouble."

"Nothing will happen to Jack," promised Kat. "I've seen the prophecy. It's never been wrong before. He hasn't accomplished all that he needs to do yet."

Lindsay bit her lip. "Even still, he's in a great deal of danger in Swabia. You know that better than anyone. If something happens to Jack, then that means you're carrying the only heir to the Galician throne."

Lindsay reached out to touch Kat's stomach. "Jack's child is right under my hand. It's also the only link we have to him right now if something should happen."

Kat shook her head. "We still have Vera too. Vera carries his blood."

"But this is his child we're talking about," pressed Will. "If it's a boy, he'll be king someday. And that means that you are now the most important person in the West. As long as you carry that child, we have to keep you safe."

"Stop just a moment," said Kat, raising her hand. "I know where you're going with this line of thinking and I'm not going to allow it. Abigail needs me on theDestiny to ascertain the strength of the bond."

Lindsay nodded. "She needs one of us. All of us can feel the bond so it doesn't need to just be you. You're too important right now so we need to keep you heavily-protected. If the Swabian fleet is still out there, you'll be in danger. There's no telling what could happen once you get outside the bay."

"I'll be safe on theDestiny," said Kat. "I've come this far on the ship that I'm not just going to stop now when I'm needed."

"I'd like to volunteer to go in your place," said Lindsay.

"What?" asked Kat incredulously.

"I've talked about it with Will and we think it's the best idea right now," said Lindsay. "I can feel the bond, and I can let Abigail know if it's strengthening or weakening. Plus it lets us keep you here. Will's company will guard you. Plus we're still surrounded by the rest of the army in the city."

"It's the best place for you right now," added Will. "There's no telling what might happen once you leave the city."

Kat pursed her lips in thought. She didn't immediately argue the point with them, which told Abigail that she was giving it a serious consideration. Finally, she turned to look at Abigail.

"What do you think?"

"It makes sense," said Abigail. "Although I don't like the idea of being separated from you as well as Jack, I can't argue against the logic of the whole plan. I would say that you are very safe being on theDestiny but you might just be a little safer here in the city."

Kat let out a long sigh and then she finally nodded. "I knew you were going to say that."

Abigail smiled. "Guess you know me too well."

"Yeah, well, we do share the same man," teased Kat before finally turning back to Will and Lindsay. "Fine, I'll stay. But I'm not going to act like a prisoner just because you want to protect me. I'm going to come and go as I please and I'm going to help out in this upcoming battle as best I can. It's the least I can do for Jack."

Both Will and Lindsay cracked smiles. "That's fine by us," said Will. "I think we'll all sleep a little better knowing you're safe here. We can't do much about Jack right now, but as long as that baby is safe, we can continue to hope."

Kat looked down at her stomach. "Do you hear that? It looks like we're staying put for the time being."

"I guess Lindsay and I should get to know each other a little better," said Abigail as she looked over at the blonde Galician woman. "Especially if we'll be sailing together."

Lindsay smiled. "I may not be that much use on a warship but at least I can help you when it comes to the bond."

"As long as you help us get a clue where Jack is, I won't mind in the slightest," said Abigail.

Lindsay nodded her head excitedly. "That I can do!"

*****

Over the course of the next twenty-four hours, Abigail spent a lot of her time with Lindsay getting to know the Galician woman. There was much to be done before the task force could depart Daban for their mission, including a preliminary calling of a war council that Abigail would lead, but any other free moment was spent with Lindsay.

Before the war council was due to begin, Abigail showed her a room that would serve as Lindsay's quarters for her time on the ship.

"It's really not much but such is life on a warship," said Abigail as she turned on the lights in the cramped room. It was so small that the bed was touching each side of the wall, with barely enough room for a chair and closest. "There's an officers bathroom at the end of the hall you can use, but I hope you're not expecting much in terms of luxury."

Lindsay smiled. "This is quite fine. I spent the whole trip over from Galicia in similar conditions."

"Really? I thought you came over on a luxury yacht?"

"Well, it is a yacht," admitted Lindsay. "But it was full of soldiers and supplies. The room that Will and I shared was crammed full of about five other officers so I'm used to not having any privacy."

"That sounds terrible," said Abigail, commiserating a little with her. "Yeah, our ship is a little cramped but at least Jack, Kat, and I shared our own quarters."

Lindsay actually giggled. "Yeah, we were definitely hurting for privacy on some nights. But we still made things work either way."

Abigail raised her eyebrow. "Do you mean . . ."

Lindsay nodded while maintaining her coquettish smile.

Abigail started to laugh. "Well, then, I guess you'll be used to having such tight quarters."

Both women shared a good laugh at that statement before Lindsay opened up again. "Thank you for letting me come on this trip. I know you obviously don't know me as well as Katherine, but I know how much you mean to Jack. It's honestly a little overwhelming to be on his ship right now."

Abigail gave her a sad smile. "It's not the same without him on it. But I'm hoping this bond that you all keep talking about will help to lead us to him."

"That I think I can do," said Lindsay.

"Well, good." Abigail looked down at her watch. "Okay, the council is about to start. Let's get to the war room."

*****

The council kicked off like just about every other one with the notable exception of Abigail being the one to lead it. Due to her role, Lindsay was seated near the front near to where Abigail was standing. Her presence caused a few double takes from the officers, and Abigail suspected that many of them were wondering why it wasn't Kat in her place.

All of the commanders were on time and greeted their colleagues upon arrival, with the common theme of shared somberness at the missing figure of Jack.

Well, almost shared. Abigail noticed that Buttface himself, better known as Captain Lewis Barnabas of the battleshipCenturion, didn't seem to share the same feelings as the others. In fact, he almost seemed to have a form of grim satisfaction at the fact that Jack wasn't leading the meeting. Right from the start, it rubbed Abigail the wrong way and it set the tone for the confrontation that was to follow.

"I take it there's been no word?" asked Luke shortly after he arrived. "No trace of Jack?"

Abigail shook her head. "Nothing yet. But that's why I'm calling this meeting. We're going to find where he went."

Luke's mood improved noticeably. "I'm all for that. Let's go find him."

As Luke took his seat with the other commanders, Abigail opened up the meeting.

"Well, as you all know, Jack is the one that usually leads these meetings," started Abigail as she looked out at the faces. "But so far there's been no trace of his whereabouts. Despite the ongoing search, no one is quite sure where he's at. But at the last war council over at the palace, we've come up with a plan to find him."

Abigail gestured for Lindsay to stand up, and she continued to speak after Lindsay turned around to face the rest of the officers. "This woman is Lindsay Kolbeck. She's Galician, and she'll be joining us in Kat's place for this particular mission."

Lindsay gave a tepid wave to a crowd that was otherwise a little confused. Most of them didn't seem to know what to think.

"You're probably wondering why Lindsay will be joining us," said Abigail, picking up on their silent questions. "Well, that's a complicated answer that's going to require a bit of an explanation."

Abigail took a deep breath before she launched into the story. She was taking a big risk explaining how Lindsay's bond would help them to figure out where Jack had been taken. Almost all of the officers in this room had no idea who Jack really was. Most assumed he was perfectly Javan like the rest of them.

Abigail had struggled for hours with what to tell the rest of the officers, especially whether it was worth letting them know about Jack's true heritage. She had to question what many of them would think or if they would still fight for someone they knew wasn't really Javan. Especially the temperamental ones like Barnabas. What would he do in this case?

Throwing caution to the wind, Abigail launched into an abbreviated version of the events. She left out many of the grander parts in favor of concise brevity. She explained that Jack had Galician heritage and as part of that heritage, Lindsay could feel a link to him that went beyond the natural limitations of the world (at least according to Javans).